The Christ Hymn

Philippians 2:5-11 King James Version (KJV)

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Called the Christ hymn from Philippians, in this beautiful and much loved passage, Paul is urging his listeners to live humbly, as Jesus lived humbly. That’s what it is, actually; not to say “that’s all it is,” which might unintentionally sound dismissive. For two millennia the passage has generated theological argument about whether it asserts the divinity of Jesus; but then theologians have no way to earn their livings but to discuss and argue with other theologians and write textbooks to be sold to seminarians and mystify everyone else -- it’s called loftily, “theological discourse” and is meant to keep the argument going and more books being written and sold and revised into new editions; and often seems further intended to keep the laity at a respectful even awestruck distance.

Bearing in mind that it is common for New Testament writers, especially the Gospel evangelists, to lift Old Testament passages entirely out of context and interpret them in an altogether new way that is foreign to what the Old Testament prophet knew, meant or intended (e.g., Matthew 1:23 from Isaiah 7:14), it seems perfectly legitimate for Christians today to go into a letter of Paul and perceive meaning that not unlikely would have surprised, distressed, even outraged the author in his day and age. That indeed might be the work of the Holy Spirit -- which in the Anglican ethos could be understood as the practice of Reason.

That’s been the case with the Christ Hymn over the generations of the Church, to perceive in Philippians 2:5-11 an assertion of the eternal divinity of Jesus Christ. That’s all well and good; and it’s certainly what the Gospel of John teaches, but it’s not what Paul meant to say. Paul is trying in elegant language to teach us to live humbly.

The Christ Hymn, BTW, is our second reading for Palm Sunday, next on the calendar.

TW+